In the end, late on January 17th, the
government appeared to bow to the mysterious cleric—who has proved himself a
brilliant orator—saying it would meet most of his calls for electoral reforms.
Some had suspected that the army was trying to find a way to postpone the
elections altogether. These are due in the next few months, and would mark
Pakistan’s first democratic transition, wherein an elected government would
complete its term and hand over the reins to an elected successor.

Mr Qadri’s demand for reforms reached
far beyond the constitution, in the name of creating a “real democracy” and
kicking out corrupt politicians. He led some 50,000 followers to Islamabad
(including many women), who camped out in the capital close to the parliament
building. It was not so much a protest as an occupation of Islamabad. They
vowed not to move until their demands were met.

The white-bearded religious cleric,
who heads a cult-like but moderate Islamic organisation, seemed to have
unlimited funds available to him. He had been delivering deadlines for weeks to
the government. On January 14th he had also declared that the government and
its ministers were no longer in office, as they had been “dismissed” by him.

On January 17th he gave the
government just 90 minutes to come to him and start negotiations. Ministers and
other senior officials from the ruling coalition, which is led by the Pakistan
Peoples Party, went rushing to his shipping container, which was kept raised
above the crowd. After some five hours of talks there, a written agreement
emerged that in its language and substance was Mr Qadri’s agenda.

There will now be a one-month
"pre-clearance" of election candidates by the Election Commission,
which is to probe their honesty before they are allowed to stand. The agreement
also gives Mr Qadri’s organisation a say in the appointment of the caretaker
prime minister, who is required by the constitution to oversee the election
period. Mr Qadri had also called for the Election Commission to be
reconstituted. This too is to be considered at further negotiations—which will
be held at the headquarters of Mr Qadri’s outfit.

No date has been announced for the
election, but there is an undertaking now from the government to wind itself up
before its five-year term ends, on March 16th. In all, this hardly shortens the
government’s period in office. Thereafter, the caretaker regime will be in
power for three months. If the government, as it seemed to have planned, saw
out every day of its term, the caretaker regime would have been in place for
two months or less.

The government’s ceding to so many of
Mr Qadri’s demands was all the more surprising after the parties of the
political opposition, led by Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, came out in
support of the ruling party—branding against the movement behind the religious
cleric as a “conspiracy against democracy”. At least the government was able to
disperse the protesters without violence. A bloody confrontation might have
provided an excuse for the army to stage a coup.

Mr Qadri’s talent is to tap into a deep
well of popular discontent. Pakistan’s politicians are by and large corrupt,
venal and often contemptuous of the people they serve. Mr Qadri mixes these
political grievances with an awareness of other ills, including terrorism,
unemployment and energy shortages. That seething public anger is also the
reason why Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, with his similar
message of cleaning up politics, has been able to attract big crowds to his
rallies.The government might have saved
itself from the full brunt of this onslaught—its wily leaders are skilled at
finding ways to preserve their spell in office. In the long term however,
politicians never be able to become more secure in their offices unless they
start delivering better government. There appears to be ample opportunity for a
next demagogue to come along and harvest the fury that has been so widely sown.
Banyan for The Economist (Picture credit: AFP)